Sustainable Destination Management Using Visitors’ Movements: Applying Mobile Positioning Data

Abstract

Understanding visitors’ movements is crucial to achieving the goals of sustainable destination management while dealing with the environmental, social, and cultural impact of tourism. This study examines the movement patterns of visitors within Taeanhaean National Park (TNP) by adopting a destination measurement approach from a longitudinal perspective. The spatial distribution of the visitors’ activities and movement patterns was obtained by using mobile positioning data (MPD) and we applied the theoretical concept of tourism destinations, which considers geographical, temporal, and compositional dimensions. Given the destination attributes and conservation values, the MPD analysis proved suitable as an aid for park managers to allocate resources efficiently and define the characteristics of park and recreation facilities. This analysis has extended our knowledge of visitors’ patterns at a large marine national park by increasing consistency and high resolution of real-time spatio-temporal data for longer periods and better representing the study population. The study results will allow park managers to implement destination management planning focused on influencing spatial distributions of visitors’ movements in a specific environment.